


you could rattle the stars

by ourlovelybones



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Drama, Fluff, Happy Ending, I love u, M/M, Romance, Spoilers!, based off of a tweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 20:12:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13531689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ourlovelybones/pseuds/ourlovelybones
Summary: "sometimes i think that maybe newt visits thomas in his dreams and they get drunk and go on adventures together like the good old days" - blueforhim (twitter)





	you could rattle the stars

_ At first I thought you were a constellation _

_ I made a map of your stars, then I had a revelation _

_ You’re as beautiful as endless _

_ You’re the universe I’m helpless in _

 

The first time it happens, Thomas watches the only boy he’s ever loved, the first person he’s truly cared about, slip through his fingers.

He’s anxious that night when he goes to sleep. It’s only been two days since he’s lost everything, all in the span of a few hours. It was torturous enough - suicidal, maybe - to see Newt stab himself right before him. He could have saved him. His blood could have been a cure for Newt, from the disease slowly eating away at the very essence of who he was.

But he was too stubborn to listen to Teresa, his best friend and his only friend for many years. Maybe if he had just listened to her - before watching her fall into the debris of a burning building right before his eyes -

Well, that kind of stuff can traumatize someone.

So maybe that’s why he sees Newt in his dreams two nights after said boy has stabbed himself with his own knife. Maybe that’s why when he’s finally able to close his eyes for more than two minutes, a pair of chocolate brown eyes crosses his mind and he starts to see a more youthful, dangerous version of Peter Pan before him. 

Newt’s mouth curls into a smirk. “Well don’t look so bloody surprised, Tommy. We don’t have all night, you know.”

No.

No, Thomas doesn’t know.

Because he was with Newt when he died - he was with him when he took his final breath. As much as he prayed and as hard as he wished it didn’t happen, he heard Newt stop breathing. He  _ heard  _ Newt stop breathing and saw his chest rise for the final time.

But here Newt is, standing next to him with a large bottle of champagne under the moonlight. He smirks at Thomas once more, his chocolate brown eyes sparkling. “Care to take a sip, Tommy?”

Thomas wakes up in an instant, sweat pouring down the sides of his face as his heart thumps violently against his chest. The air is warm, like it was in his dream, the sea breeze softly caressing his face.

But he’s alone when he wakes up, his bones desperately whispering for a ghost that was never really there in the first place.

 

I.

 

It happens again three nights later, after he’s had a lovely dinner with Brenda and Jorge by the fire. 

Brenda’s noticed that he hasn’t been sleeping well. From anyone else, he might get irritated and haughty every time she points out the deep purple bags under her eyes. The pale, sunken skin on his face and his constantly fidgeting fingers.

But she’s Brenda - she understands him in a way the others don’t. She knows when he doesn’t necessarily want to talk and when he just wants to watch the stars.

“You have to go to sleep, Thomas.” She whispers one night as they’re huddled in front of the fire after a nice dinner with Minho, Frypan, Aris, Sonya, and Harriet. Minho retires from the group early because he has his own Grievers to battle when he shuts his eyes.

Last night, Thomas slept next to Minho on the floor of his tent, while the Asian thrashed and throttled in his cot. When he awoke that morning, he simply hugged Thomas until Frypan announced that breakfast was ready. After everything they’ve been through, Thomas couldn’t be happier that he at least has Minho with him. Minho understands what it’s like where Brenda doesn’t, someone who’s never been subjected to the Maze. He understands what it’s like to see Grievers coming for you from every corner, to watch your best friends die right in front of you.

After everything, Thomas is just so damn happy he has Minho with him.

Tonight, Thomas resolves to go to sleep. He lies down in his cot and breathes in and out, in and out, in and out. He repeats this like a mantra until a familiar mop of blond hair and warm brown eyes is peering over him.

Soft fingers run through his hair as the Peter Pan look alike above him chuckles. “You need to get a haircut, Tommy. I’m sure Vince knows how to use his shears on a beautiful head like yours.”

Thomas doesn’t fight it this time.

He simply stares Newt back in the eyes as he replies, “I saw you.”

Newt merely raises his eyebrow but he doesn’t stop moving his fingers from rubbing Thomas’s scalp. “You saw me what?”

The word stays stuck in the bottom of Thomas’s heart.  _ I saw you die. _

“Come on, Tommy.” Phantom Newt says and suddenly they’re outside by the beach, instead of in Thomas’s tent. Newt’s holding a large bottle of sparkling champagne, instead of the curls in Thomas’s hair. “Let’s have some fun, shall we?”

_ I saw you die. _

Thomas chooses to swallow his words. Instead, he chooses to hold Newt’s phantom hand that night and fall into a realm of slumber of which he hasn’t experienced since before he woke up, choking on air in that box that took him to the Glade. He feels calm, staring at the pale fingers locked with his own.

Newt’s smirking at him again, holding his hand as he tips his head back and lets the sparkling champagne slide down his throat. 

“What kind of fun?” Thomas finally asks when Newt finally hands over the liquor. It tastes better than Gally’s weird concoction back in the Glade. It tastes like magic and starlight.

Newt waits a moment. Then another. Then another, before he finally responds when he realizes Thomas isn’t going to spit the champagne out, “The kind of fun we could only dream of once upon a time.”

 

II.

 

The first night, they skip across water.

Thomas has never been drunk before. He doesn’t understand what he’s feeling after he drinks and drinks and drinks the sparkling champagne. His head floats above the clouds, but he can still feel that it’s connected to his body. While he can still feel every single one of of his fingers and toes, he’s trying to figure out how it’s possible that his entire body has seemed to vaporize into thin air.

Newt’s not any better. Newt’s smirking and smiling and laughing and chuckling. Newt’s reaching for Thomas’s hand as they go skipping across the murky ocean water, splashing each other just for the hell of it. Just because they can.

“Look at me! I’m like Jesus!” Newt squeals as he skips. His feet barely skim the surface of the ocean but he’s moving at the speed of light. “Look at me, Tommy!”

And look at him, Thomas does. 

A flash of blond hair whips by him in the dark of the night. He can hear Newt’s gleeful cackle fill the air around them as he tries to keep up with his friend. 

_ I saw you die. I saw you stop breathing. I saw your chest rise for the final time. _

Instead, he reaches for Newt’s phantom hand. 

“I bet I can skip faster against the water than you.”

 

III.

 

The second night, they go bowling.

When he wakes up after the first night, Brenda looks happy to see him.

“Thomas!” Brenda exclaims when he comes out of his tent well after lunchtime. The golden sun is high in the sky and the smell of delicious sandwiches and freshly baked cookies - courtesy of their wonderful friend Frypan - lingers around on the wooden tables. “You look so much better! Aris and I were thinking of going swimming by the lake, do you want to join?”

_ If that would make the day go by any faster, of course Thomas wanted to join. He would pretend to have fun with Brenda and Aris, splashing around in the cool waves. But all he really wanted was the dark of night, the silvery light of the stars that signaled Newt was coming soon. _

When he closes his eyes that night, he sees his best friend running his fingers through his hair again. Newt’s smirking and smiling and laughing and chuckling above him, whispering sweet nothings. “Let’s go bowling. Let’s eat so much ice cream that our tummies hurt. Let’s play all the games in the arcade, you can go racing while I watch you, with my hand on your back as you curse and scream because the other cars have gotten ahead of you. Let’s do all of the things we would’ve done if we only had the time.”

So they go bowling the second night Newt appears to him in his dreams. They’re the loudest pair in the bowling alley - but then again, they’re the only pair in the bowling alley. Every time Newt bowls a strike, Thomas howls with delight and rage.  _ You’re cheating! _

_ How could I be cheating, Tommy!? _

_ ,,, I don’t know but you’re cheating! _

The night ends similarly as it did the first.

Newt wins their game of bowling, somehow. He somehow bowls all strikes and ends with a perfect score. Thomas howls with rage and delight when he finds the outcome of their game. They’re best friends, so it’s perfectly natural that Thomas wraps his arms around Newt’s waist and lifts him up in the air. It’s perfectly natural that Newt squirms and screams with delight, laughing harder than he ever has before with Thomas’s strong grip around his hips. 

A flash of blond hair whips by him in the dark of the night. He can hear Newt’s gleeful cackle fill the air around them as he tries to keep up with his friend. 

_ I saw you die. I saw you stop breathing. I saw your chest rise for the final time. _

Instead, he cups his hand around Newt’s cheek.

“I bet I can win the next game against you.”

 

IV.

 

And so it goes.

So it goes that Thomas looks forward to going to sleep more than he looks forward to waking up. Every night when he closes his eyes, a mop of sandy blond hair and coffee brown eyes are waiting for him in dreamland. And every morning when he wakes up, he feels that same hollowness in the center of his chest that he felt when he shut his eyes for the night.

The third night, they go dancing late after midnight to the sounds of their favorite rock bands and sultry pop stars. The fourth night, they sing karaoke while drunk off of their minds. The fifth night, they drink pint after pint after pint of whiskey. On their fifth night together in dreamland, it snows. White flurries coat the hills of Paradise where Thomas resides and where Newt frequently vacates. So on the fifth night, when they’re drunk out of their mind, they go sledding and make snow angels.

Newt looks illegally adorable with rosy pink cheeks and white frost covering his tiny nose in the freezing cold. Thomas blames it on the whiskey when he brushes the frost off of Newt’s lips with his own rosy pink lips.

On the sixth night, they eat chocolate-covered strawberries while drinking tequila with limes at the cinema watching horror movie after horror movie. On the seventh night they ride around the world over and over in an airplane, traveling from country to country. On the seventh night, they drink seven straight bottles of red wine and snack on crackers with fancy cheese.

“I’d propose to you here.” Newt says casually as they fly over Paris on the seventh night. He’s enjoying a slice of toasted white bread with Brie cheese as they listen to  _ Only Love  _ by  _ Wafia.  _

_ I've been thinking of us, I've been thinking too much _

_ And I haven't been sleeping, 'cause the nights have been rough _

_ I've been telling myself that it's only love _

_ "Will I start to believe it if I say it enough?” _

They’ve flown over the Eiffel Tower, as Newt says this. They’ve flown over the Eiffel Tower, with their pale fingers clasped together and a bottle of Rosé between them.

So Thomas only tightens his grip. Hr smirks and smiles and laughs and chuckles. “That’s weak. I’d propose to you on every single continent.”

 

V.

 

After that - it becomes a game.

On the tenth night, Newt says that he would propose to Thomas in front of all of their friends on a sunny beach in Hawaii. He would play the most romantic music while getting down in the sand on one knee with the most brilliant diamond of all. 

On the thirteenth night, Thomas decides to serenade Newt deep into the night with candles and champagne and chocolate. It’s just the two of them and Newt’s favorite soundtrack of classical music. On the thirteenth night, it’s just Newt and Thomas and the sounds of their bodies molding into one as they promise themselves to each other for the rest of time.

But on the fourteenth night, Newt doesn’t show up. Eagerly, Thomas hurries throughout the day as he always does. He does his chores and his responsibilities and plays with Minho in the sand, before helping Frypan set up for dinner. On the fourteenth night, when he goes to bed Newt’s not there waiting for him like he usually is. Thomas waits and waits for his famous smirk and his famous frown to show up in his dreams - but when he wakes up the next morning, cold and alone, he’s not just disappointed.

He wakes up irritated and bitter.

Brenda’s moved on by now. She and Minho like to take long walks on the beach after dinner and go running early in the mornings before anyone’s awake. Even Aris and Sonya look at each other with that same fondness that Thomas used to associate with himself and Teresa - or himself and Newt. Even Sonya, the little blonde girl who reminds him so much of his beloved his friend, has moved on.

On the seventeenth night, Thomas resigns to staying outside his tent once again. He watches Brenda and Minho splash each other in the ocean, laughing and laughing and laughing. Brenda smiles differently around him. She smiles like she’s genuinely happy.

In another universe, Thomas imagines, Teresa is smiling at someone like that. Before she closes those gorgeous crystal eyes for sleep, she looks her lover deep in their eyes and smiles at them like they’ve found the cure for cancer. His heart aches. His heart breaks. His heart mourns, weeps, and cries for her - but he thinks he knows why he doesn’t see her the same way he sees Newt.

Teresa has made her peace with him. 

He and Teresa, from the moment they were on the burning roof with each other, have forgiven each other. He does not blame her for what she did almost a year ago - just as she does not blame him for not understanding her. And as much as he wishes that he could see her just one last time, he knows that she has made her peace with him.

So on the seventeenth night, while he stays outside his tent that night, he waits for Newt to show up. He waits for the familiar mop of blond hair and mischievous brown eyes to appear in his dreams. That night, they drink lemon-flavored vodka and dance under the stars.

Newt reaches for his hand, a knowing look in his eyes. “Tommy?”

Thomas runs his fingers through Newt’s hair. “Yeah?”

“You could rattle the stars.”

He continues to run his fingers through Newt’s hair. He smirks at Newt, he smiles at Newt, he laughs with Newt, he chuckles with Newt. “I think we could do this forever.”

“Drinking?”

Thomas laughs with his whole heart this time, smiling so wide that his cheeks begin to hurt. “I think that we could do this forever. Where every night you come to me in my dreams. And every night, we go on adventures together because that’s how it’s supposed to be.”

Newt smiles at him sadly, withdrawing his fingers from rubbing circles on Thomas’s thigh. “But your life is out here, Tommy. Out here in the real world.”

“No.” Thomas shakes his head. Slowly - slowly, but surely - he feels Newt’s touch on his skin becoming more of touch of a phantom ghost’s than a lover’s. “No, my love. My life is wherever I’m with you.”

On the eighteenth morning, Thomas wakes up and he feels the sun beating down on his skin.

He hears Brenda calling out to him -  _ Thomas, what the hell, it’s almost 2:00 in the afternoon! Wake the fuck up, you lazy bugger! _

He feels Minho laying down next to him. He deals with his own Grievers at night. He deals with his own screams and tortures - but no matter what he deals with, he’s always going to be right there next to Thomas. After everything they’ve been through - Thomas couldn’t be happier that he has Minho with him.

He smells Frypan’s wonderful bacon wafting through his tent. Smells Frypan’s perfectly scrambled eggs and perfectly baked muffins. On the eighteenth morning, he finally thanks Frypan for everything - for just existing when even existing felt like a monumental effort.

And on the eighteenth night, he didn’t have to go looking for Newt in his dreams.

Newt was always with him. 

He sees a pair of milk-chocolate eyes right before him, the curve of a smirk upon his lips. The moonlight shines upon his silky blond hair. “Do you fancy a midnight swim at this late hour? You’ve been asleep all bloody day - entertain me just this once, will you?”

Thomas leans up on his elbows. 

“What are you looking at, Tommy?”

Thomas’s lips pull into a smile. “I love you.”

“Shut up.” But Newt’s smirk deepens upon his lips. On the eighteenth night, Newt can’t help but say back, “Love you too.”

 

_ I was a billion little pieces _

_ ’Til you pulled me into focus _

_ Astronomy in reverse _

_ It was me who was discovered _

**Author's Note:**

> hey im very drunk but i hope you guys like this x  
> i've seen TDC 3 times but i wanna go see it again right now and i kind of wish we had gotten some resolution as to what happened after they all made it to paradise but ya know
> 
> WHO ELSE LOVED THE MOVIEEEEEE  
> come follow me on tweeter @happydyIan and follow the lovely soul who inspired this @blueforhim <3


End file.
